Technology Issues: Empowering Consumers, Driving Innovation

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Retailers are innovating to profoundly delight and empower consumers. That is why enhancing consumer trust, safety and security are vital to America's retailers. As the industry continues to evolve, RILA is working with lawmakers to help shape policies that keep consumer data secure, respect consumer privacy, and transform the customer experience.

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Data Security

While technology presents great opportunity, nation states, criminal organizations, and bad actors are using it to attack and disrupt America's economy. Retailers are taking every precaution to keep consumers' data safe. Unfortunately, no organization is immune from attack. RILA has worked with bipartisan stakeholders, including the tech and financial services industries, to help shape federal data breach legislation that contains strong preemption, capped penalties, a harm and information acquisition-based trigger for breach notification, and reasonable data security requirements.

RILA will continue to work with lawmakers to promote policy that allows retailers to effectively communicate to their customers and keep customer data safe.

Privacy

As American consumer preferences evolve, retailers are embracing innovative technology that helps them learn more about their customers. Retailers’ goal is to provide consumers with unparalleled services and products everywhere. The retail industry understands that consumer data should be treated with care. While retailers are careful stewards of customer data, outdated state and federal laws stifle innovation.

RILA is engaging with a wide variety of stakeholders to educate lawmakers about frivolous lawsuits brought under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), that stand in the way of more robust privacy-enhancing consumer interactions.

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In 2018, RILA will continue to work with Congress and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on TCPA reform that will help retailers continue to innovate to the benefit of American consumers.

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Regulatory Reform

Consumers rely on trusted brands to provide quality, safe, compliant, and high-value consumer products. In meeting customers' expectations, retailers face several challenges including a complex system of laws, regulations, standards and inconsistent enforcement by government officials. In the past several years, regulatory agencies, including the EPA and CPSC, issued unnecessarily burdensome regulations that do not enhance consumer protection and established aggressive enforcement policies that focused on

the size of the penalty rather than the nature of alleged violation or harm to consumers. The new Administration has initiated a regulatory reform initiative to roll back many of these ill-advised and ineffective regulations. RILA supports this effort. In 2018, RILA will support regulatory reform efforts by pushing for nomination and confirmation of senior agency leadership; testifying and filing comments before regulatory agencies with the goal of rolling back unduly burdensome regulations; encouraging appropriate enforcement priorities; establishing strong government-industry trusted partnership programs; and continuing to call for enhanced congressional oversight.